


The Colours of Home

by TenRoseForeverandever



Series: Domestic Bliss [16]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff without Plot, Hurt/Comfort, Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-07
Updated: 2016-07-07
Packaged: 2018-07-22 03:05:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7417153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TenRoseForeverandever/pseuds/TenRoseForeverandever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose’s pulse quickened. The doorway gave the distinct impression of being <em>off limits</em>. This was clearly a private space for the Doctor: a place where she was quite certain he would be displeased to find her trespassing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Colours of Home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Julibellule](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Julibellule/gifts).



> From a couple of very old prompts from timepetalsprompts, over on Tumblr. In October 2015, timepetalsprompts partnered with Fall Fic Fest. This story was originally based on their prompt: _Fall Colours (Bonus: Fall Colours on an alien planet.)_ This has now been combined with the more recent (relatively) Timepetalsprompts ficlet prompt from April 2016: _What happens when Rose ( ~~or another companion~~ ) stumbles upon a forbidden part of the TARDIS?_  
> Better late than never… right?
> 
> This story is for Julibellule, who is the founder and administrator of The Dalektables (thedalektables.tumblr.com). Please go and check out this amazing site, dedicated to promoting multi-chapter Doctor x Rose fics and their authors. She works so hard, and I feel so guilty for being a very delinquent Dalektable. I’ll be back, sweetheart, but in the meantime, enjoy the little shout-out included in this story!

* * *

“But, Rooo-oose, you haven’t lived until you’ve seen the autumn colours in Canada,” the Doctor wheedled from below the TARDIS console where he was working on some minor repairs to the navigation systems.

“All of space and time at our fingertips and lately we’ve been spending most of it on Earth! C’mon, live a little, yeah.” Rose winced a little at the snarky tone in her voice.

“Don’t blame _me_ : you humans have a knack for inviting alien encounters, and then you need saving. Besides, I didn’t hear you complaining when I took you to see the Olympics.”

“That _was_ lovely… ‘til we ended up havin’ to save the world from a lonely baby space blossom, and I nearly lost you!”

“And…” he paused, “… and you saved the day! And we still managed to see Usain Bolt break the Olympic record in the 100 metres. Pass me that hyper-spanner, will you?”

“Here you go.” She picked the gadget from the floor and placed it in his waiting hand. “I admit, the Olympics _were_ fun, but I jus’–”

“ _Or_ ,” he continued, raising his voice to cut off her argument, “that time I took you to see _Julie and the Delectable Dragonflies_ in concert–”

“Oh, they were sooooo good!” she beamed.

“My point exactly!”

“But that was the 29th Century–”

“So? Still Earth, wasn’t it? And you enjoyed it!”

“Well, course I did. They were amazin’! But the autumn colours, Doctor?” she groaned. “I can see ‘em any time, yeah.”

“I beg to differ: the autumn colours _you_ are familiar with are dismal greys and soggy, old, muddy browns.” He scrunched his face up in distaste. “Autumn in London, Rose, does not, in any way, do the season proper justice.”

“Look… w’atever.” She rolled her eyes with a resigned sigh. “You finish up your repairs. I’m gonna get a cuppa... Want one?” she added in a tone that she hoped conveyed her disinclination to actually bring him one.

“Nah, I’m alright.” For once he seemed to get the message… either that or he was in a snit over their disagreement, or perhaps he was just oblivious.

She wandered off down the corridor toward the galley in a bit of a funk. It seemed that ever since the Olympics… well since Krop Tor, actually… the Doctor had been making a point of steering them toward safe planets; places where they were unlikely to find trouble. And she understood. She did. It was just that if she was going to “ _die in battle”_ , she didn’t want to have any regrets. She wanted to die having lived a life full of adventure with the Doctor by her side.

Her hand twitched: it suddenly felt very empty without his fingers entwined with hers. Maybe she’d take him that cuppa after all… and some scones with jam.  And kiss the crumbs and sweetness from his lips. And then…

Well, she could dream, couldn’t she? It wasn’t a complete impossibility. After all, he _had_ finally kissed her in the aftermath of Krop Tor, a passionate thing full of possession and promises he’d never be able to fulfil; a kiss that tasted of forbidden territory. Then, just as she thought they might take things to the next level, he had instead responded in the most Doctor-y way possible, pulling back, running away, citing the need to take care of the TARDIS after the trauma she had been through. Yeah… definitely forbidden territory.

Things had gone back to normal after that… well, maybe they were both a little more flirty, and Rose definitely had a lot more material to fuel her fantasies… but, other than that, it was business as usual: handholding and hugs.

She shook herself from her reverie to find that she had been meandering through the corridors, not paying attention to where she was going. She found herself in a part of the TARDIS she didn’t recognize; a place that was nowhere near the galley. “Where ‘ave you taken me, darling?” she inquired, resting her hand against the warm coral wall. The TARDIS responded with a soft thrum and lit the passage ahead of Rose. Curious, Rose followed the corridor until she came to a large, heavy, wooden door. Every inch of its surface was engraved with what she recognized as Circular Gallifreyan script.

“You want me to go in _there_?” Rose’s pulse quickened. The doorway gave the distinct impression of being _off limits_. This was clearly a private space for the Doctor: a place where she was quite certain he would be displeased to find her trespassing.

She felt a slight pang of resentment that he had never shown her this room; and rather more than a pang of guilt for even considering intruding into that space. But the TARDIS was insistent. Rose’s hand hovered over the doorknob, trembling for a moment before she grasped it. In a single, swift movement, she turned the knob and thrust the door wide open.

The breath left her lungs at the site before her: the vista of a planet, an alien world she had never visited, stretching before her as far as she could see. The sky was a dark, rich orange: a vibrant colour that cast an amber glow over the land.

She walked in, closing the door behind her, and fought down a twinge of panic as the doorway disappeared completely into the landscape. In its place was a range of mountains, seemingly miles away, craggy and broken, snow-capped peaks thrusting into the copper heavens. In the foothills, she could see movement in the dim light: impossibly tall, slender-trunked trees, their leaves shivering in the cool breeze. Around her knees, tall red grasses tickled, supple blades swaying like waves of claret wine.

She had to remind herself that she was still aboard the TARDIS; that the time ship was creating this scene: the textures; the scents; the sounds.

Recreation or not, the enormity of it all humbled her.

She turned to see golden radiance erupting over the distant horizon: a sunrise, transforming the appearance of the burgundy grass sea to molten swells of fiery lava. Spinning around, she saw the distant mountains, gleaming with rich mottled purples and browns in the growing light, and at their base, the leaves of the trees gleamed and shimmered like flames in silver luminescence.  A chorus of birds surged from the trees, greeting the morning with vibrant voices, crystal chimes that quavered through the air.

She started as a cool hand enfolded hers with a gentle squeeze, weaving their fingers together. She turned to look at him, unbidden tears rushing down her cheeks in response to the poignant beauty around her.

His eyes glittering, he nodded to the sunrise. “The rising of the Second Sun in the south. The sky will gradually transform to a deep blue once the other sun appears. But this, Rose, _this_ is my favourite time: First Dawn in the autumn, when the birds are gathered in flocks and the leaves on the trees are the purest silver. They look like a forest on fire.”

“’S beautiful,” she breathed, watching his face, averted from hers. “This is your home, isn’t it?”

He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing, and dipped his head once in response. “Gone now.”

“No… it’s all ‘ere in your mind. And your clever TARDIS… she recreates this for you.”

They were silent for a minute, sharing the spectacle of the Gallifreyan dawn that blazed before them.

“Do you come ‘ere often?”  She nibbled at a thumbnail and chanced a glance up at him. Their eyes met.

“No… not so much these days.”

“Oh.” She bowed her head. “How could you stay away? I’d never want to leave.”

He gave a small, contemplative huff in response before falling silent again. He gave her hand another squeeze, and she leaned quietly against his side, preserving the quiet intimacy of that moment.

As the Second Sun rose completely above the horizon, he became restless, swinging their joined hands together between them. He looked down at Rose, waggling his eyebrows at her and offering a dazzling grin.

She grinned back, tongue tucked between her teeth. “This was jus’ so beautiful, Doctor. Must put Earth’s autumn to shame. S’prised you were so keen about seein’ that.”

“What? Autumn on Earth _is_ _brilliant_! Different from this, yes, but just as brilliant, Rose! And the best time to see it is when the sun is just beginning to dip toward the horizon, illuminating the leaves, making the colours practically glow! The autumn sky is an even deeper blue than normal, due to Rayleigh scattering: the scattering of light by the oxygen and nitrogen molecules in the atmosphere. The shorter the wavelength of the –”

Rose reached up and placed a finger over his lips, effectively stopping his discourse. She rose on her tiptoes and engaged his lips, instead, with a bold, little kiss.  “Don’t tell me. _Show_ me,” she breathed.

He blinked, nonplussed by her presumptuous behaviour, and ran a nervous hand through his hair before replying. “You really want to go? We don’t have to…”

“Nah, I think you’ve talked me into it, with all that talk of _rolly scatterin’_.”

“Rayleigh scattering.”

“Yeah, _that!_  I’m sorry, Doctor… ‘bout earlier. Not wantin’ to go.” She placed her hand over his chest, between his hearts. “It all jus’ seems so… ordinary.”

“That’s where adventure lies, Rose Tyler; in the most ordinary of experiences. Sometimes home, for all its domestics and familiarity, boasts the most unexpected pleasures. It’s easy to take it all for granted.”

Rose turned away from him and cast her gaze over the landscape before her. “Did you ever… did you… take this place for granted?” She whispered the intrusive words, almost hoping that he wouldn’t hear, afraid of his response. Maybe afraid he wouldn’t respond at all.  Maybe afraid he would run.

But he had heard, and he wasn’t running. She felt his eyes boring into her.

“You don’t need to–” she stuttered. And he spoke at the same time: “Yes and no.” They both chuckled, the tension palpable.

“You go,” they spoke again in unison.

She turned back to him, grasping his hand again, and stroking her thumb over the back of his. “Go ahead. Tell me. Please.”

He hesitated for a long moment, and she wondered if he would speak after all. His voice, when he did speak, was little more than a whisper. “There was so much beauty. When I was small, I remember running through the grass with the wind in my hair. I felt so free.”

“That’s a lovely memory.”

“It was a lie.”

Rose swallowed hard, watching his face as his jaw clenched, a dimple forming in his cheek. “W’at ‘appened?”

“The Time Lords. The scenery may be beautiful, but my people corrupted it with their lust for power and dominance; their self-importance and arrogance.”

“You left.”

“I did what I’ve always been so good at: I ran.”

Rose pressed her cheek to his shoulder.

“It’s so easy to take things for granted, until one day… weeell...”

“I’m sorry… your home… your people.” Her voice dropped to a whisper, “Your… your family.”

He turned toward her, and she offered him a sad smile before turning her gaze downward, unable to endure the pain that haunted his eyes.

“I… I should go,” she stammered. “I’ve intruded long enough. Thanks for sharin’ all this with me.” As she turned to leave she allowed her fingers to unravel from his.

“Oi!” He caught the tips of her retreating fingers, locking their hands together again. “I believe we had a date.” He nudged her shoulder with his, and walked with her towards the doorway that had reappeared in the landscape.

“I jus’ thought you’d wanna…” She gestured with her head back to the Gallifreyan vista. “Don’t you miss it?”

“Nah… weeell… sometimes. But this isn’t my home, now. Hasn’t been for a very long time.” A finger under her chin tipped her head up so she was looking into the darkened depths of his ancient gaze. “ _You’re_ my home now. _You’re_ my family. Rose Tyler.” He bent down to capture her lips with his, tender but passionate.

She melted into his embrace. The kiss felt so welcoming, so right. And, as she adjusted the angle of her head to deepen the kiss, to open herself to him fully, she knew there would be no going back from here. There would only be them, moving forward together.

All too soon, their lips parted and they opened their eyes to one another with shy grins and flushed cheeks.

He pulled the door open. “Shall we?”

Rose turned back for one last look at the beautiful Gallifreyan landscape, squeezing his hand, before stepping out into the corridor. “So, Doctor… Canada?”

“Oh, yes!” he beamed at her, all traces of solemnity erased from his countenance.

“I know! How ‘bout we make a picnic of it, yeah? A baguette, some cheese, fruit, and ooh… how ‘bout a bottle of wine?”

“Brilliant! A picnic it is! And maybe…” he tugged on his ear, glancing down at the ground, “…maybe camping? Erm… spending a night… _together_ under the stars?” He looked up at her, a blush spreading over his cheeks.

Rose felt her own face heat up as well, and bit the corner of her lower lip. “Sounds nice… yeah.”

“I have the perfect spot in mind! Weeell… several potential perfect spots, to be honest…”

Rose giggled. “Well, pick one, you muppet, (one without an alien incursion, please!) and let’s go. I’ll go pack the picnic basket. Meet you in the console room in ten?” Their hands stretched apart, both of them reluctant to release their hold on the other.

As she finally skipped away to the galley, she looked back over her shoulder to find him looking back at her, a warm smile stretching across his face.

“Rose?”

“Yeah?”

 “I… I just wanted to say… I, well I…” He shook his head. “Oh, never mind. See you later!”

Rose smiled, and bantered back. “Not if I see you first!” She knew what he had wanted to say. She thought she had known for a while now. And, really, the words didn’t matter, because Rose and the Doctor both understood that if he ever felt the need to run again, he knew he could always run home… to her.

* * *

 


End file.
